An oil soaked bird struggles against the side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

(Newser)
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The Minerals Management Service appears to have blatantly ignored a law requiring new oil drilling operations to get permits from the agency that assesses risk to endangered species. The MMS gave the okay to the Deepwater Horizon rig and dozens of others without getting the permits, the New York Times reports, even though the agency that's supposed to issue them, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, kept protesting and issuing strong warnings about the wells' impact on the Gulf.

The MMS's own biologists and engineers also say they were consistently ignored when they raised safety or environmental concerns, and pressured to change findings predicting an accident or harm to wildlife. An MMS spokesman says the agency consults the NOAA, but wouldn't respond when pressed on specific rigs. “Under the previous administration, there was a pattern of suppressing science in decisions,” she said, “and we are working very hard to change the culture.”

Oh yes, did you forget BP gave millions to Obama's campaign. When the press can't hide it anymore they will finally explain how the Obama regime gave BP numerous passes on regulation violations. It's amazing what you can get away with when your part of Crime Inc.

bewilderbeast

May 14, 2010 12:39 PM CDT

This I'll believe: "Under the previous administration, there was a pattern of suppressing science in decisions”; This I'll wait and see before I believe: "we are working very hard to change the culture.”

postroad

May 14, 2010 12:39 PM CDT

Here we have a useful lesson: 1. if the govt does something, it will be messed up through incompetence, indifference, mismanagement, lobby input. 2. If the private sector does something, it will be messed up through greed, lobby groups, indifference toward the public good. There may be some sort of solution that can solve this either/or...any ideas?